During Week 2, Broncos wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. had a remarkable performance in the initial half of their matchup against the Washington Commanders. Within just four offensive snaps and a little over two minutes of gameplay, Mims not only secured a 60-yard touchdown pass from Russell Wilson but also made an impressive over-the-shoulder catch along the left sideline for 53 yards. This outstanding display earned him the first 100-yard receiving game of his career, marking the Broncos’ inaugural 100-yard pass-catching day of the season, and all of this unfolded before halftime.
He didn’t make any more receptions during that particular day, and the Broncos didn’t achieve another 100-yard receiving game throughout the entire season. Having only one such game in the previous year, the Broncos ranked 31st in the NFL for games featuring a pass-catcher reaching the 100-yard mark. In 2023, only New England, which dealt with challenges from quarterbacks Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe, had fewer instances of such games. However, the significant issue for the Broncos extends beyond just a one-year occurrence.
The Broncos have consistently found themselves near the bottom in recent years. They hold the 30th position in the total number of 100-yard receiving games:
… in the past two seasons, accumulating five…
… over the past three seasons, totaling seven…
… and over the last four seasons, reaching a sum of 12.
Since 2020, the Broncos have failed to achieve the league average of 100-yard receiving games in any single year. In this timeframe, their rankings have been 18th, tied for 28th, tied for 20th, and finally, 31st in the current year.
It seems reasonable to attribute this to quarterback-related issues. Notably, the only two teams with worse records than the Broncos in these multi-year spans—the New England Patriots and New York Giants—also grapple with quarterback instability.
However, consider the Cleveland Browns, who have faced challenges with 10 different starting quarterbacks in the past three seasons. Despite this quarterback carousel, they managed to record 15 100-yard games from their pass catchers, more than twice the number achieved by Denver. The Browns even secured six such games this season despite using five different quarterbacks.
While quarterback problems contribute to the Broncos’ lower standing in this metric, both for the current year and over the past four seasons, these challenges alone do not fully explain why the team falls short of even reaching the 10th percentile.
This situation hasn’t occurred in three decades. The last instance of the Broncos having only a single 100-yard game in a season dates back to 1991. However, the years in between reveal a different scenario. Specifically, during the 2014 season, the Broncos boasted 18 100-yard receiving performances in a successful 12-4 season.
This figure is noteworthy given that, in the last five seasons combined—spanning 83 games—the Broncos have managed one less 100-yard game. Additionally, the current streak of 15 games without a 100-yard receiver for the Broncos is the lengthiest in over 36 years. The last comparable stretch was a 21-game regular-season streak that persisted from Week 16 of the 1985 campaign until Bobby Micho brought it to an end in the final replacement-player game during the 1987 strike.
The Broncos’ underwhelming performance in terms of 100-yard receiving games is especially concerning given the substantial investments made in wide receivers and tight ends in recent years. Denver has utilized first-round picks in 2019 (Noah Fant) and 2020 (Jerry Jeudy), along with Day 2 selections in 2017 (Carlos Henderson), 2018 (Courtland Sutton), 2020 (KJ Hamler), 2022 (Greg Dulcich), and 2023 (Marvin Mims Jr.).
Despite these seven premium picks, they have only produced 13 instances of a player reaching the 100-yard mark over 236 games as Broncos. To put this into perspective, Emmanuel Sanders achieved 19 such performances in just 78 games before moving on to play for San Francisco, New Orleans, and Buffalo, and eventually retiring.
Noteworthy is the fact that Sanders accomplished 10 100-yard days in 53 Denver games after Peyton Manning’s last regular-season start at quarterback. This translates to one every 5.3 games. In stark contrast, the Broncos’ premium picks since 2017 have managed one 100-yard receiving day every 18.2 games. This discrepancy is a contributing factor to the ongoing struggles of Denver’s offense.
